shake off

British

verb

to remove or be removed with or as if with a quick movement

she shook off her depression
(tr) to escape from; elude

they shook off the police

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

shake off Idioms

Free oneself or get rid of something or someone, as in I've had a hard time shaking off this cold, or She forged ahead, shaking off all the other runners. It is also put as give someone the shake, as in We managed to give our pursuers the shake. The first term dates from the late 1300s; the slangy variant dates from the second half of the 1800s.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

shake off

The Vances, however, can’t seem to shake off suspicions that they loathe each other, no matter how many smiles they flash at the camera.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026

We just have to shake off a little rust first.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

Oil prices on Wednesday fell toward prewar levels, while tech stocks struggled to shake off AI-bubble fears.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

Antonelli tried again into the first corner and had to back off, but now Russell could not shake off his team-mate.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

Every day of this delay made it harder for her to shake off her uneasiness.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023